Episodes

Jacke takes a look at "America's first Man of Letters," Washington Irving (1783-1859), most famous for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle." PLUS Joe Skinner of American Masters: Creative Spark...

How do we humans experience nature? And how might we experience nature differently from one another? In this episode, Jacke talks to writer, film producer, arts and abolition organizer, cultural worker, and educator Erin Shar...

The English novelist, playwright, and short story writer Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) lived a life as eventful as his prodigious literary output. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at Maugham's travels and travails, followin...

Born in 1820, the devout Quaker Anna Sewell was in her fifties - and terminally ill - when she decided to write a book that would change the way the public viewed and treated animals. Although her novel Black Beauty …

Shakespeare's plays and poetry are some of the most towering achievements in the history of humankind. What was Shakespeare the person like? How did he work? What made him laugh? In this episode, Jacke talks to Sir Stanley We...

Poetry! Poetry! Poetry! After taking a look at Emily Dickinson's Poem #1 94 ("Title divine - is mine!"), Jacke talks to Cambridge University's Jess Cotton, whose biography of John Ashbery ( John Ashbery: A Critical Life ) cha...

Jacke takes a look at "A Haunted House," Virginia Woolf's modernist ghost story. PLUS Ford Madox Ford biographer Max Saunders ( Ford Madox Ford: A Critical Life ) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will …

Jacke talks to novelist Shilpi Suneja about her childhood in India, her discovery of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children , and her new novel House of Caravans , which offers its own fresh look at Indian Independence and its ...

Jacke takes a look at the life and works of eighteenth-century novelist Charlotte Lennox, whose poetry, plays, novels, and criticism earned her the approbation of the best literary minds of her day. Best known for The Female ...

Just who was F. Scott Fitzgerald? How do we make sense of his many different sides? In this episode, Jacke talks to biographer Arthur Krystal about his new book Some Unfinished Chaos: The Lives of F. Scott Fitzgerald. PLUS Je...

Hardly anyone knows Ursula Parrott today, but not long ago she was close to being a household name. As a bestselling novelist of the Roaring Twenties and beyond, Parrott's life was filled with literature, celebrity, and scand...

Jacke talks to Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro about his new book, Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future , which looks at eight contentious periods in American history to see how...

Jacke talks to author William Egginton about his new book Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality , which uses the examples of three profound thinkers to explore the differences between reality "out there...

Jacke talks to Professor Maaheen Ahmed, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Comics , about the popular, multifaceted, and dynamic art form of manga, graphic novels, and other comics. PLUS Elizabeth Winkler ( Shakespeare Was ...

Jacke talks to author Ed Simon about his new book Heaven, Hell, and Paradise Lost , which considers Paradise Lost within the scope of Simon's alcoholism and recovery. PLUS Jacke continues his journey through the poetry of Emi...

In this episode, Jacke and Mike discuss Disgrace , J.M. Coetzee's stunning 1999 novel about sex, violence, salvation, and ruin in post-apartheid South Africa. Telling the story of David Lurie, a fiftysomething professor who h...

Rome! The Eternal City! It's a place for celebrating lives both present and past - and in addition to all the art and culture and architecture and food, it's a place to think deeply about the meaning of life. In …

Jacke begins with a look at Emily Dickinson's poem #122, then continues (and concludes) his reading and analysis of the Henry James masterpiece, "The Altar of the Dead." Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or hist...

During a horrible period of grief, literary failure, and general bewilderment, Henry James turned to art - and created some of his greatest masterpieces. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at one of James's best (and most un...

Jacke kicks things off with a look at Emily Dickinson's Poem #90, then welcomes author Vanessa Riley for a discussion of her new historical novel Queen of Exiles , which tells the story of Haiti's Queen Marie-Louise Christoph...

Jacke and Mike take a look at the stormy Fitzgerald marriage and F. Scott Fitzgerald's fourth novel, Tender Is the Night , which many consider to be his masterpiece. (Yes, even better than Gatsby !) Help support the show at …

Jacke continues his Emily Dickinson series with a reading of Poem #32. Then Professor Patrick Whitmarsh stops by for a discussion of his new book Writing Our Extinction: Anthropocene Fiction and Vertical Science , which exami...

Jacke talks to Professor Hamid Dabashi about his new book The Persian Prince: The Rise and Resurrection of an Imperial Archetype , which replaces Machiavelli's Il Principe with a bold new figurative ideal. Drawing on works fr...

It's a trip to the Big Easy! The city of New Orleans is so famous for its music, its food, and its Mardi Gras mentality that it's sometimes overlooked as a magnet for writers like Walt Whitman, Zora Neale Hurston, …